Biathlon at the 1984 Winter Olympics – Relay

Men's biathlon relay at the XIV Olympic Winter Games
Venue	Igman - Veliko Polke
Dates	February 17
Competitors	68 from 17 nations
Winning time	1:38:51.7
Medalists
Soviet Union Dmitry Vasilyev Juri Kashkarov Algimantas Šalna Sergei Bulygin   Norway Odd Lirhus Eirik Kvalfoss Rolf Storsveen Kjell Søbak   West Germany Ernst Reiter Walter Pichler Peter Angerer Fritz Fischer

Biathlon at the 1984 Winter Olympics
Individual		men
Sprint		men
Relay		men

The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1984 Winter Olympics 17 February, at Igman - Veliko Polke. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.^[1]

At each shooting station, a competitor has eight shots to hit five targets; however, only five bullets are loaded in a magazine at one - if additional shots are required, the spare bullets must be loaded one at a time. If after the eight shots are taken, there are still targets not yet hit, the competitor must ski a 150-metre penalty loop.^[2]

Results

The Soviet Union, the reigning world champions, and having never lost this event in the Olympics, and East Germany, which had won four consecutive world titles before the Soviets took the title in 1983, were the main favourites. Dmitry Vasilyev gave the Soviets a lead of more than a minute after the first leg. The East Germans cut the lead to thirty seconds after the second leg, while Norway, which had started disastrously, with Odd Lirhus taking two penalty loops, had sprint champion Eirik Kvalfoss move them up to third.^[1]

The East Germans then moved ahead on the third leg, after Algimantas Šalna had to go on the penalty loop twice himself. However, Frank Ullrich, winner of 9 world championship gold medals, and three medals at the last Olympics, struggled with his skiing, only having the 10th fastest leg, and leaving his team fourth. For the Soviets, it was another story, Sergei Bulygin shooting clear and skiing a quick leg to win his side gold. They held off a hard charge from the Norwegians, as Kjell Søbak followed his teammate Kvalfoss in putting up the fastest leg to earn silver. Individual champion Peter Angerer had put the West Germans third going into the final leg, and while Fritz Fischer did not make up ground on the Soviets, they did move into bronze position by passing their East German opponents.^[1]

Rank	Team	Penalties	Result
	Soviet Union Dmitry Vasilyev Juri Kashkarov Algimantas Šalna Sergei Bulygin	2+9 0+2 0+3 2+4 0+0	1:38:51.7 24:52.4 24:34.8 25:17.8 24:06.7
	Norway Odd Lirhus Eirik Kvalfoss Rolf Storsveen Kjell Søbak	2+10 2+4 0+2 0+2 0+2	1:39:03.9 26:56.2 23:27.6 24:46.5 23:53.6
	West Germany Ernst Reiter Walter Pichler Peter Angerer Fritz Fischer	1+9 0+0 1+5 0+0 0+4	1:39:05.1 26:01.9 25:13.5 23:39.3 24:10.4
4	East Germany Holger Wick Frank-Peter Roetsch Matthias Jacob Frank Ullrich	1+9 1+3 0+0 0+3 0+3	1:40:04.7 26:01.2 23:52.6 24:32.8 25:38.1
5	Italy Adriano Darioli Gottlieb Taschler Johann Passler Andreas Zingerle	0+9 0+3 0+1 0+4 0+1	1:42:32.8 26:14.3 25:43.5 25:50.4 24:44.6
6	Czechoslovakia Jaromír Šimůnek Zdeněk Hák Peter Zelinka Jan Matouš	4+11 0+2 0+3 1+3 3+3	1:42:40.5 25:59.5 25:06.4 26:16.2 25:18.4
7	Finland Keijo Tiitola Toivo Mäkikyrö Arto Jääskeläinen Tapio Piipponen	2+10 0+2 1+4 1+4 0+0	1:43:16.0 25:58.9 26:08.4 26:29.9 24:38.8
8	Austria Rudolf Horn Walter Hörl Franz Schuler Alfred Eder	1+11 0+2 1+3 0+4 0+2	1:43:28.1 26:17.2 25:48.6 26:18.7 25:03.6
9	France Francis Mougel Éric Claudon Yvon Mougel Christian Poirot	3+10 2+5 0+0 1+5 0+0	1:43:57.6 27:23.6 25:36.1 26:22.9 24:35.0
10	Sweden Sven Fahlén Tommy Höglund Roger Westling Ronnie Adolfsson	2+14 1+6 0+1 0+2 1+5	1:44:28.2 27:02.0 25:23.4 26:04.9 25:57.9
11	United States Bill Carow Donald Nielsen, Jr. Lyle Nelson Josh Thompson	0+12 0+4 0+6 0+1 0+1	1:44:31.9 27:23.9 26:42.7 24:58.2 25:27.1
12	Great Britain Jim Wood Patrick Howdle Tony McLeod Charles MacIvor	0+13 0+1 0+3 0+4 0+5	1:46:17.2 27:11.6 26:20.1 26:11.1 26:34.4
13	Romania Vladimir Todaşcă Mihai Rădulescu Imre Lestyan Gheorghe Berdar	2+6 0+0 0+1 2+4 0+2	1:47:44.8 26:35.8 26:33.5 26:42.1 27:53.4
14	Hungary János Spisák Gábor Mayer László Palácsik Zsolt Kovács	4+13 0+2 1+4 3+6 0+1	1:48:40.0 26:57.5 26:34.4 29:03.7 26:04.4
15	Japan Isao Yamase Shoichi Kinoshita Yoshinobu Murase Hiroyuki Deguchi	1+16 1+5 0+4 0+5 0+2	1:51:43.1 29:08.6 27:35.1 27:31.5 27:27.9
16	China Sun Xiaoping Long Yunzhou Liu Hongwang Song Yongjun	0+10 0+3 0+2 0+3 0+2	1:53:04.1 28:54.4 28:09.1 28:27.0 27:33.6
17	Yugoslavia Andrej Lanišek Jure Velepec Zoran Ćosić Franjo Jakovac	3+15 0+4 1+4 1+4 1+3	1:54:13.8 28:28.7 28:32.2 28:30.5 28:42.4

References

1. "Sarajevo 1984 Official Report" (PDF). Organising Committee of the XlVth Winter Olympic Games 1984 at Sarajevo. LA84 Foundation. 1984. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
2. Wallechinsky, David (1984). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics. New York: The Overlook Press. p. 320. ISBN 1-58567-185-1.

• Sports-Reference.com - 1984 Olympics Men's 4 x 7.5 km Relay